marshall ma100h

[JoshBernstein]

So about 5 years ago, i bought a marshall ma100h, before i knew much about tube amps. I saw it for around 700 bucks, thinking it was a great buy. After about 6 months of use, i decided it sounded absolutely deplorable, and it sat in my closet until this morning, when i decided to give it another go. It doesnt sound nearly as terrible as i remember. (At least the clean channel doesn't, the dirty channel still sounds as disgusting as i remember) With a set of fresh tubes and a 12au7 in v1, the clean channel is actually very usable. It is not the best clean sound i have ever heard, and it is not my first choice by far, but i would gig with it. Anyone else have any experience with the ma series?

[JoshBernstein]

Ma100

[RWood]

It saddens me to say so but I haven't heard a decent Marshall production amp in a long, long time. The ones that do sound ok have so many heat/IC/board problems that I would not recommend buying one any more.
The MA is too fizzy for my tastes. There is a good reason they are $700.00 new! Asian crap as far as I'm concerned.
If it were mine...I'd gut it and build a hand wired 2204 or 1987 in that chassis.

[Stevem]

Here is a basic rule of thumb for good clean tones be it a tube amp , or a SS type.
The less number of times that your guitars signal passes thru a coupling / tone cap the less phase changes will take place and the more natural the guitar will sound, two to three gain stages max which would include the PI section in PP type amps.

Some of the best clean tones I have ever heard to date are from old tube amps or Mic pre's that use interstage transformers!!!

[wahmi]

A good friend of mine got ripped off by a store which sold him this amp € 1800 with a 1960a in 2009.

Today he cannot resell it for a change. I told him I was going to try to make the best of it.

Do you know any cool mods that would make it usable?

I join the schematic

[JimSoprano]

Rip out everything and make him a 1987/2204 thing. Only use transformers if the PT has enough power.

[bepone]

+1 for remove all and redo anything, with those transformer and chassis , JTM, JMP.. it is a fun to do specially when you hear for the first time some good tomes from cheap amp!

[teemuk]

Do you know any cool mods that would make it usable?

Hmmm... I see a very Fender-ish clean channel and an OD channel with a lot of influence from the revered 2203 with input boosted. Quite a lot of low cut there, but there usually is in "higher gain" amps...

I know, I know, these MA-series amps do get a lot of flak but what is it particularly - in your opinion and based on your preferences - that makes this amp non-usable? What is it that you don't like about it?

Without knowing that it's quite difficult to suggest how to mod it. More gain? Less gain? More bass? Less? Should there be other character different from that of Marshall amps. Should you build a new amp entirely? Etc.

[teemuk]

The less number of times that your guitars signal passes thru a coupling / tone cap the less phase changes will take place and the more natural the guitar will sound, two to three gain stages max which would include the PI section in PP type amps.

People seem to have no issues with Soldanos, 5150's, Rectifiers, Marks, Bogners and dozens of other amps that break this golden rule of yours. What If the point is that one doesn't want the guitar to sound "natural" but instead prefers to mangle its tone with distortion, compression of the envelope, emphasis of select frequencies and etc...

Some of the best clean tones I have ever heard to date are from old tube amps or Mic pre's that use interstage transformers!!!

As if those wouldn't introduce phase changes. Sigh.

[wahmi]

Do you know any cool mods that would make it usable?

Hmmm... I see a very Fender-ish clean channel and an OD channel with a lot of influence from the revered 2203 with input boosted. Quite a lot of low cut there, but there usually is in "higher gain" amps...

I know, I know, these MA-series amps do get a lot of flak but what is it particularly - in your opinion and based on your preferences - that makes this amp non-usable? What is it that you don't like about it?

Without knowing that it's quite difficult to suggest how to mod it. More gain? Less gain? More bass? Less? Should there be other character different from that of Marshall amps. Should you build a new amp entirely? Etc.

We finaly test it in good condition, and i think we will let it stock for now. You're right, very "2203 type amp" when you take time to do decent preset.